Patna, Sept. 22: Gangs indulging in loot, robbery and theft have found a new tool to dodge the police.

Like Rani Mukherjee in Bunty and Babli, the miscreants are now involving Bablis to carry out criminal activities since they are hard to catch and even harder to confront.

Some of the local gangs, which mostly indulge in looting and robbery, are involving women as party to their crime.

To curb the growing menace, which is mostly concentrated in Patna Junction, the Government Railway Police (GRP) are busy briefing their women constables to keep a close watch on suspicious looking women.

Ramakant Prasad, the officer in-charge of the GRP Patna station, told The Telegraph that the women constables had been briefed and asked to patrol regularly in and around the railway station looking for suspicious looking women.

Earlier this month, the GRP had arrested a gang that used woman to spot the prey and then steal the luggage.

“The gang had involved a woman who used to move around the railway station. Apart from spotting and informing potential passengers carrying huge luggages, which could be robbed, she used to sit with the women passengers and quietly slip away with their bags and other things,” the officer said.

He added that there are many passengers who spend nights on railway station. The woman used to sleep beside women passengers and then quietly leave with their belongings.

“She used to dress herself very impressively so that passengers never question her intentions,” the officer said.

After the case was cracked, the officer said the women constables were briefed and alerted.

“They have been asked to patrol in the same way as their male counterparts. If they suspect a woman, they have been directed to first keep a close watch on them before taking any action. The modus operandi of such gangs operating in the GRP area has been briefed to them,” the officer said.

He added that they had identified a few more gangs who are also operating with the help of female hands.

“In most of the cases, these women are used to spot the prey and then flee with the catch. They sometimes spot the potential targets and then communicate it to the male members of the gang, who then carry out the act,” the officer said.

He added that these gangs prefer a woman to carry out the activities because they are hard to confront since they have the advantage of being a woman. “We have the information that there are more such gangs operating in the city and they are being traced,” the officer said.

On August 4, the Gandhi Maidan police station had arrested three criminals, who used women and children to carry arms and the other goods that were looted by the male members of the gang.

These men used to take a group of women or children to the place where they wanted to carry out the crime. All the weapons were given to these women or children. Before entering a premise for dacoity or loot, they used to take the weapons from the women and carry out the operation. “This was done to avoid sudden police raids,” the officer added.

He said: “If the police have new ways to catch the criminals, the miscreants try newer ways to dodge us. However, the police are alert and are making efforts to curb all kinds of crime.”